


11 June 1847

by Traveling_Song



Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28746744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traveling_Song/pseuds/Traveling_Song
Relationships: Lady Jane Franklin/Captain Sir John Franklin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	11 June 1847

[ ](https://suffocating-in-the-void.tumblr.com/post/175858274376)

  


Dark waters rose and fell. Trembling as the cruel cold of ice crushed rib cages with increasingly difficult breaths.

Reaching, reaching. With each bog of ice, bumping and blurring vision. Consuming waters. A tiny dot bobbing on the horizon of once perceived visions. Being dragged under by unforgiving roll against desperate attempt to remain afloat. Drifting further, further...

“— Auntie? Auntie, wake up!”

Lady Jane Franklin was jostled into awareness as her eyes snapped open. She was in the safety of her study, dry, a little chilled, at home in England. Her slumber - which she apparently had fallen into at some odd late afternoon hour - interrupted. By none other than her niece Sophia. 

“What is it, Sophy?” Jane mumbled while letting out a yawn, displeased with the rude awakening. Then again, with such a busy schedule as hers, it wasn’t like Jane to fall asleep in her chair like that. “Did something happen?”

“I was about to ask the same, Auntie.” Sophia had a clear look of panic on her face, pale as she handed her aunt a handkerchief.

“What—?”

Jane touched her forehead, only to find droplets of sweat on her fingertips. Taking the handkerchief with a curt ‘thank you’ she dabbed her hairline with a trembling hand. Something felt inexplicably different about her, which she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Something wrong, something missing. A strange emptiness. But what?

“It was growing increasingly unbearable to see you rustling in your sleep, so…” Sophia sat beside her, “Your expression - you were so disturbed. And - and, calling out for Uncle John.”

John? Jane had dreamt of her husband many a time when he was away at sea. Some for the better, and others for the worst... the latter when she particularly feared for his life.

But Sir John Franklin was an experienced arctic explorer and maritime hero.

And yet something felt different, still something felt...

Jane pressed the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb, unappreciative of the dull throb of a forming headache. Her eyes slowly closed as she tried to remember what could be its cause. 

“I recall seeing John in the Arctic sea…”

_Drowning._

Her blue eyes snapped open as she suddenly horrifyingly remembered.

Staring in terror. Racing to the edge of an empty, crew-less Erebus. Helplessly shouting ‘Somebody, help!’ to the dumb ears of isolation while she saw Sir John becoming trapped in the iceberg-laden waters.

She recalls throwing a line for him to pull himself back to safety, and when he was out of reach she hurled herself into the icy depths. 

She recalls the freezing saltwater feeling as though it were choking her as she did her best to swim closer to her husband. Shoving Arctic ice packs away from her as she reached out for him. Reaching, reaching.

But the further she swam the further the current seems to be taking Sir John further and further away from her until he was gone. Vanished, and all that remained was the barren Arctic Sea.

_‘John— !’_

“Auntie?”

“But it was only a dream,” she remarked solemnly, sighing. It was only a dream. Lady Franklin looked away despondently but made an effort to change the subject. “Is there any word from the Baffin Bay whalers on the expedition?”

“No. None that anyone has heard, at all.”

Jane’s brow furrowed, flummoxed. “Well, there should have at least been some word… for goodness sakes, it’s been two years already, and your Uncle’s planned course to the Northwest Passage would have had them — ” her gaze went blank as the nightmarish flashes of the dark ocean came back to her.

Sophia gently placed her hand on Jane’s shoulder “Are you _sure_ you are all right?” 

Lady Franklin pondered silently. As calm as her life had been these past two years with her own travels and the like, blissful unawares and goodwill to the expedition’s success... the longer there was no word from Sir John or any of the 129 crew, the more she began to worry that something happened. That couldn’t have possibly been an ordinary dream she had awoken from. No ordinary nightmare. And while she could have hoped it was a change in the weather or simply her nerves getting the best of her, it simply wasn’t like her to be in such a strange state.

“John…” she wheezed, covering her mouth with her hand as she now feared for the worst. Her leonine heart becoming gripped with fear. With such vividness of what she saw, the hopelessness of seeing Sir John drown under the Arctic seas, only for her desperate attempt to rescue him be in vain, only to never find him. Had something truly happened to him? Across space and time was he trying to warn her? Was it a cry for her help? As much as she hoped her husband was well and sailing with his men to discovered victory, this was not something she would even consider ignoring.

Jane rose, serious and undeterrable. Adamant and unwavering. But a perturbed quietness remained about her countenance.

“We must call upon the Admiralty at once.” 

“Whatever for, Auntie?”

“To begin preparation for a rescue mission.”


End file.
